This Aragon is a hell of a deal! Aragon 4004 MkII $850 - dual mono - 200w/2 @ 8 Ω, 400w/2 @ 4 Ω, stable down to 1 Ω - known as the poor man's Krell |
trip, I used an Aragon 4004 MKII to drive a pair of fairly inefficient Magnepans for several years. It's a good amp that I thought sounded good in my system from top to bottom. I know from personal experience, however, that there's a very affordable amp you can buy new for hundreds less than a used Aragon which I believe you'll enjoy much more. I had to replace my class A/B Aragon a few years ago due to leaking caps in the power supply. I didn't want to spend the $1k repair estimate and didn't have the funds at the time for another new or used class A/B amp so I bought a class D amp for $630 that I had read very good things about. It was a Class D Audio SDS-440-CS. that I thought of as a temporary solution until I bought another expensive class A/B amp, but it was so surprisingly good.that I never bothered. This powerful (220/440 watts @ 8/4 ohms), small, lightweight, efficient and cool running class D amp significantly outperformed my former powerful ( 200/400 watt @ 8/4 ohms), large, heavy, inefficient and hot running class A/B Aragon amp in every way I care about. It had better bass response due to its very high damping factor, it was quieter due to its very high Signal to Noise ratio, had better dynamics due to its very wide Dynamic Range and more detailed due to its extremely low distortion and very low noise floor. I would categorize the mid-range and treble performance as similar to the Aragon but even smoother mids and more extended and more detailed highs. I'm not familiar with your speakers but I think this amp would be a very good performer with almost any speakers. This little amp is not exactly ugly but it's definitely not audio jewelry. But if you're more concerned with sound quality than cosmetics, it's a real bargain. Good luck, Tim |
